Jacksonville, FL (December 5, 2018) – Today, Council member Danny Becton discussed with news media, a special initiative that includes partnerships with Southside Hotel Owners, Jacksonville Sheriff Association, Visit Jacksonville and the Florida Regional Lodging Association.
The objective of this initiative is to address the perception and often times reality of Crime and Safety within our Jacksonville Hotel and Motel business community. The solutions that likely will come from these efforts will be identified in the form of 1) Improved Communications, 2) Incentives and 3) Law Enforcement to help achieve our objective. Everything is on the table.
This issue does affect everybody but our business community has been starting to see the affects as 1) Leasing of office space affected by the surrounding environment, 2) Out of town business guests who depend on lodging feeling safe and secure and 3) out of town families who are coming into our city for entertainment and sports related activities knowing that Jacksonville is focused on their safety too.
“Many years ago, as a citizen activist, I heard about previous efforts that the JSO under took which seemed to have a positive effect on this issue. You do not have to look any further than University Blvd at Philips Hwy and I-95 to see how that area, which used to be in the news frequently, has changed,” said Councilman Becton. “It was years ago that then Sheriff Rutherford would explain that they were chasing crime one exit at a time out of Jacksonville. Today, I say that the program worked, unfortunately, it stopped at the Baymeadows – I-95 area.”
“Today, JSO has a task force group that focuses on the multi-family apartment communities. It is my understanding that this initiative has been very successful and it is that type of focus and initiative that we would like to see happen again for the hotel and motels city wide,” said Councilman Becton.
Future meetings of this initiative are being planned and to stay up with the progress and to receive information on future meetings, contact Tiziana Onstead, Executive Council Assistant for District 11.
Watch and Read Media’s Coverage at the links below: